The Changing Value of Tenure
by Jeff Sandefer There’s something interesting happening when a professor—at a prestigious university no less—gives up his hard-won tenure to pursue an entrepreneurial opportunity in innovative education.
Tag Archives: Jeff Sandefer
A Summit on the Future of Business Education
By Jeff Sandefer In my experience, university faculty typically fall into two camps: (1) teachers who care deeply about their students, and (2) political types who care more about […]
Transformational Education in Action: Children’s Business Fair
By Jeff Sandefer. What do you get when give kids the chance to Make something with his or her own hands; Sell it (safely) to a stranger; and Experience the […]
Godin on Modern “Factory” Education
By Jeff Sandefer Seth Godin asks the right question about modern education in a recent blog post: As we get ready for the 93rd year of universal public […]
Smoke and Mirrors at the University of Texas
Written by Wick Allison in D Magazine Last month I endorsed the questions Jeff Sandefer has raised about the performance of our two major public universities. In answer to those […]
New Models for Status Quo Universities
Written by Jeff Sandefer Is it possible to create a new type of public university, where professors and administrators make clear promises to their students and deliver an exceptional […]
UT Chancellor Lays Out Broad Plan for Higher Education Reform
New reform framework unites critics and supporters of ‘seven breakthrough solutions’ By Teddy Wilson In much-anticipated remarks to the University of Texas Board of Regents Thursday, Chancellor Francisco Cigarroa laid […]
Praising Excellence in Higher Education
Written by Jeff Sandefer One of the great joys of being a teacher is getting the chance to work with other teachers who change the lives of students.Just this week […]
Want to Be a Good Researcher? Try Teaching
Written by By Dan Berrett Graduate students in the sciences who both teach and conduct research show greater improvement in their research skills than do those who focus exclusively on […]
Results-based Model for Higher Education Within Reach. By Jeff Sandefer
By Jeff Sandefer Texans have an extraordinary opportunity to create a new results-based model for higher education in America, a model that prepares our students for more productive and meaningful […]
Publisher Brings Texas Higher Ed Debate, ‘seven solutions,’ to This Month’s D Magazine. By Mary Lee Grant
By Mary Lee Grant American Independent D magazine’s publisher Wick Allison brought the debate over Texas higher education reform to his magazine’s pages this month, supporting the “seven breakthrough solutions” […]
Improving Higher Education in Texas. By Jeff Sandefer
It’s time for the debate about reforming higher education in Texas to move past disparaging professors or demonizing reformers, so we can capitalize on ways to improve the learning and […]
How Productive Do Professors Have to Be?
By Charlotte Allen The firing of a controversial aide to the University of Texas system has triggered a full-blown debate over the productivity of teachers and whether “star” professors who […]
Texas official: Higher ed can Improve, Cheaply
We thought this was a good story, but we thought it misinformed for the subject to suggest “It appears to me that someone, for some reason, is manufacturing a crisis.” – […]
Making Universities Accountable: The Oxbridge Solution
By William Lutz Earlier this week, I received a submission from a higher education expert who often publishes his work under the pseudonym Publius Audax. He disagrees with UT Liberal […]
Charter Colleges: A Market-Based Solution
By Robert C. Koons The cost of higher education in America spirals out of control. Tuition and fees have increased fourfold in real terms in the last two decades, far […]
Gov. Perry – Making Public Higher Education Affordable for Generations
As rising student debt becomes a national issue, the push for belt-tightening and lower tuition strikes a chord. By Reeve Hamilton In 2003, Gov. Rick Perry signed off one of […]
Interim A&M Chancellor Kimbrough Announces End for Teaching Excellence Awards
By Patrick Michels Less than a week after taking over as interim chancellor of the Texas A&M University System, Jay Kimbrough announced the end of a faculty awards program rooted […]
Surplus Truck Windshields, Surplus PhDs, and the Misguided Mission of Today’s Universities
By Jeff Sandefer While working in Russia in the 1990s, I saw factory after factory continuing to produce products that no one wanted. I have one particularly vivid memory of […]
Perry Supports Higher Ed Plan While Groups Vow to Fight
By Huma Munir Gov. Rick Perry has backed the Seven Breakthrough Solutions for Higher Education, but the plan from a conservative think tank could prove to be a breaking point […]
Coalition, Powers Fight Against Report’s Negative Assessment of UT Officials
By Huma Munir A report by The Center of College Affordability and Productivity classifies high-level administrators as the least productive members of the University, according to a Texas Coalition for […]
Powers and Cigarroa Unavailable for Comment. Zaffirini Denied Anything Unseemly.
Top UT officials under fire – Former adviser says they blocked release of data By MELISSA LUDWIG Read more: http://www.chron.com/disp/story.mpl/metropolitan/7635188.html#ixzz1Qr7dEJQe Rick O’Donnell, a former special adviser to the University of […]
SMU Alum Takes Over as Interim Chancellor at A&M System
By Jeannie Kever jeannie.kever@chron.com Jay Kimbrough has been one of the state’s key troubleshooters over the years, dispatched to overhaul a number of public agencies following reports of wrongdoing or […]
Texas Tech Using Cost/productivity Data to Form 2011-2012 Budget
By Patrick Brendel The release of data on individual faculty members’ salary and productivity has sent shockwaves through the world of Texas higher education, pitting agitators for “transparency” and “accountability” […]
UT Advisor O’Donnell’s Depature Has not Quieted the Controversy
Rick O’Donnell: The TT Interview By Reeve Hamilton Rick O’Donnell’s time as an adviser at the University of Texas System may have been brief, but his presence was felt more […]
Emails Give Insight Into UT Controversy
By Ralph K.M. Haurwitz At the height of a controversy about the direction of the school’s governing board earlier this year, the chairman of the University of Texas System regents […]
Controversy Deflected Attention From Important Work
Fired UT advisor Rick O’Donnell gets $70,000 settlement By MELISSA LUDWIG The University of Texas System has settled for $70,000 with a former special adviser who threatened to sue after […]
Entrepreneur and Perry Friend Sandefer, Puts Texas at Center of Higher Ed Firestorm
By S.C. GWYNNE and GARY JACOBSON, The Dallas Morning News In 1985, a young Harvard Business School student from Abilene named Jeff Sandefer had an idea to make money from […]
UT Controversy – Third-Party Groups Try to Improve Public Universities
By Reeve Hamilton For years, Gov. Rick Perry’s efforts to increase efficiency and productivity at public universities — largely by pressuring university system officials to carry out specific changes proposed […]
UT Regent Chairman Gene Powell Welcomes Ideas From New Coalition
He looks forward to hearing from this new group and working with them in the areas of quality, access, accountability and transparency By Melissa Ludwig A group of more than […]
Texas A&M System Regents Say TPPF Not at Fault For McKinney Departure
By VIMAL PATEL Sources familiar with the departure of Mike McKinney as A&M System chancellor say he was pushed out, but not for resistance to a conservative think tank’s ideas. […]
Texas – Seeking Transparency and World-Class Leadership
By William James Legislators want to ensure transparency and impartiality in university boards of regents with a new committee after learning officials were meeting with Gov. Rick Perry behind closed […]
Controversial UT Regent Hopes to “Push a Reset Button”
By Reeve Hamilton Enlarge photo by: Bob Daemmrich Regent Alex M. Cranberg at the University of Texas Board of Regents meeting on May 12, 2011. On Feb. 12, Gene Powell, […]
“Seven solutions” … Already Being Implemented at Texas A&M
By Nicole Garza Talks of higher education reform in the State of Texas have sparked passionate pleas from academics. “I and others would like to understand how the seven solutions […]
Online Learning, For-profits and the Federal Connection
By Holly Hacker/Reporter hhacker@dallasnews.com (Today) I wrote about state universities, including the University of Texas at Arlington, partnering with for-profit companies to deliver online classes. It’s an approach that’s gaining […]
You Wouldn’t Understand – You Don’t Have a PhD.
Listen in as the president of a university in Texas explains why a tax-paying parent couldn’t understand the complex decisions that go into being a “prestigious” “tier one” school.
The Data is Dismissed as “factoids,” This Means Facts Someone Doesn’t Like
Crossfire in Fat City. An exchange in response. By DANIEL HALPER University of Illinois at Chicago professors Barbara Risman, William Bridges, and Anthony M. Orum write this letter to the editor […]
Encouraging Teachers to Improve Teaching Effectiveness – UT Controversy Continues
The Bryan-College Station Eagle reports on a chicken-or-egg situation regarding Texas A&M University’s “Student Led Awards for Teaching Excellence,” and whether A&M based its controversial faculty teaching awards on a […]
Texas A&M McKinney Says – TPPF Did Not Influence Program With “Seven Breakthrough Solutions”
By VIMAL PATEL Top Texas A&M System leaders have repeatedly said the idea for a program that gives teachers cash based on anonymous student evaluations did not come from the […]
Texas Universities’ Spending Under Scrutiny
A push to root out ‘waste’ at public universities in Texas using quantitative metrics – including research grants – to assess faculty performance is making its way across the state. […]
Seven Breakthrough Solutions Would Boost Productivity and Accountability at Public Universities
By Reeve Hamilton At a meeting of the Texas A&M University System Board of Regents, chairman Richard Box appeared to shrug off a controversial set of “breakthrough solutions” for higher […]
Gov. Perry – A Top Priority to Improve State Universities
The big lie making the rounds in Texas is that elected or appointed officials want to undermine or de-emphasize research at our colleges and universities By Ralph K.M. Haurwitz AMERICAN-STATESMAN STAFF […]
Professors Who Don’t Want Accountability Blame “Seven Breakthrough Solutions.”
By Mary Lee Grant More than 800 professors signed a letter presented during a dramatic board of regents meeting this week in which angry faculty spoke out against Texas A&M […]
Chairman of A&M Regents – Concerned About the Future of Higher Education
“I am concerned about the future of higher education in our state and across the country as costs continue to escalate and a first-class education may be moving out of […]
Continued Controversy – UT, A&M Faculty Productivity Criticized in Studies — and Studies Criticized, too
By HOLLY K. HACKER Two new studies say that professors at Texas’ top public universities aren’t very productive — but critics say those studies are flawed. The studies — one […]
What Exactly Are the “Seven Breakthrough Solutions?”
There has been so much controversy surrounding the “seven breakthrough solutions”, we thought we would post them with full downloadable PDF solutions, so you can read and decide for yourself […]
HBJ 40 Under 40 Winners Honored – Keynote: Jeff Sandefer
By Casey Wooten, Reporter Forty of Houston‘s top young professionals were honored Thursday at the Houston Business Journal 40 Under 40 awards, held at the House of Blues. Delivering the […]
Tillerson: The U.S. Public Education System for Children Needs Fundamental Change
By ELIZABETH SOUDER AUSTIN — As Texas politicians debate whether to reorient universities toward teaching rather than research, the chief executive of Exxon Mobil Corp. gave a warning. Rex Tillerson […]
State Senator Zaffirini: Rick Perry Doesn’t Have a Graduate Degree, (But) I Have a PhD, so I Understand
By Bryan Preston Democrats go full elitist, defend higher ed bubble and its skyrocketing costs (Updated) Though this story comes out of Texas, it’s not really about Texas. It’s about […]
Chairman Powell of UT System Regents – Moving Forward
Now that Chancellor Cigarroa is on board with Powell’s vision, Regents can focus on educational accountability and productivity. Austin, TX Gene Powell has had a few trying months. First, the […]
